Last week USDA released its Cattle on Feed report; inventory was 95 percent of April 2022, which was the highest total on record for the month of April, but the 1 April 2023 total on-feed inventory was the lowest since 2017. As WPI noted last week, strong marketing numbers at 99 percent of last year, as expected, prevented the report from being bearish from the much larger than anticipated placements and somewhat higher inventories compared to expectations. However, the report did put a lid on the recent rally in fed cattle prices.  The record high cattle prices in 2014 and 2015 incentivized rapid herd expansion among producers.   Another USDA report issued last week, however, shows that any herd rebuilding this year i...

TAGS – Livestock, North America